Graphic Novel Roundup

It was another comics-reading weekend for me, and I feasted on a crop of middle grade books plus one for adults.  Fortunately for me, I enjoyed them all and wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of them.

So cute!

Jellaby, Volume 1
Kean Soo

I am such a sucker for the cute, and Jellaby is about as cute as they come.  Portia has just moved to a new city with her mom (her dad mysteriously disappeared sometime before) and is having trouble making friends.  One day (or night, rather), she decides to investigate the woods behind her house and finds a big purple monster she names Jellaby.  Jellaby doesn't speak, but he (or she?) is very friendly and communicates in ways that don't require words.  Portia makes an unlikely friend in Jason, a boy who is always being picked on by the school bullies, and together they try and hide Jellaby from the adults of the town, ultimately hatching a plan to somehow return Jellaby to his home - wherever that may be.

I really enjoyed the art in Jellaby.  It's done in mostly whites and purples, with some black thrown in when Portia experiences a flashback.  You'd think with all that purple and a cute, cuddly monster (seriously - cutest monster ever), the book would fall on the wrong side of saccharine, but it doesn't.  It's got a warm-hearted story about friendship at its center (friendship between Jellaby and Portia as well as that between Portia and Jason) and a good dash of adventure.  The wordless panels are among the best in the book at conveying emotion and creating character.  My only complaint is the book leaves us with a major cliffhanger - and now I have to hunt down volume 2.  Oh well.  I'm much more forgiving of this with comics than regular books.

Robot Dreams
Sara Varon

Sara Varon has done something pretty brilliant: created a dialogue-free (and nearly word-free) treatise on friendship that isn't your usual warm and fuzzy fare.  A dog buys a robot, puts him together, and they become fast friends.  They visit the library together, visit the beach, go for a swim...which is a mistake for the robot, because he starts to rust.  Soon, he can't move, and the dog leaves him on the beach.  The dog comes back to try and rescue the robot later, but the beach is closed.  Time passes and the dog makes other friends while the robot lays on the beach, dreaming about being rescued, going on adventures, and generally living (as much as a robot can live) again.  Eventually, the summer rolls around again and the beach re-opens, but things don't happen as you think they would.  Robot Dreams is one of those books that deserves repeated readings.  Bonus: multiple uses of reference books!

Zita the Spacegirl
Ben Hatke

The concept of this one is simple: A mysterious device zaps Zita's friend through a portal to an alien world, Zita follows, and adventures ensue.  The alien world they are transported to is in the path of an asteroid, and the indigenous people have walled themselves up with Zita's friend held captive, believing he will save them.  Zita meets up with a motley band of adventurers (not your usual band - more than half of them are robots) and must battle strange-looking aliens and double-crossers and hostile landscapes in order to rescue her friend.  Adventure, humor, bright colors, odd tentacled creatures (Zita finds a whole reference book of odd tentacled creatures, in fact) - what more could you want?  Bonus: the volume tells a complete story!

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword
Barry Deutsch 

The tagline for this book is terrific: Yet another troll-fighting 11-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl. How can you not want to read this book now?  I loved two major things about Hereville: its tongue in cheek plotline (involving a rampaging, talking boar and a fight with a troll) which is funny but also a terrific adventure, and its insight into Orthodox Jewish life, which is incredibly fascinating to someone who knows almost nothing about it (me). Deutsch sprinkles Yiddish words and phrases throughout the book, defining them at the bottom of the page.  The lifestyle of the religion is an integral part of the story and informs the interactions between the characters, who are likable but also have believable faults.  Mirka herself is an engaging protagonist, feisty, full of energy, argumentative, and always talking back to her decidedly un-evil stepmother.  The art is terrific too.  This is a particularly well-done graphic novel that stands apart from its fellows.

Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall
Bill Willingham

The lone comic book for adults I read this past weekend, 1001 Nights of Snowfall was one of the most enjoyable.  I've waxed rhapsodic before about how much I love the concept of Fables - all the characters from fairy tales and legends you've known about since you were a child are living in New York City as exiles, having fled a terrifying adversary that conquered the Homelands.  Despite its fairy tale background, this series is decidedly for adults.  While I mostly read books for kids, it is nice to step outside of that and read something written for people my own age every once in awhile.

1001 Nights of Snowfall uses a twist on the story of Scheherezade as a frame tale: in Willingham's version, Snow White travels to the Arabian lands to try and broker an alliance with the Sultan in their fight against the Adversary.  Instead, he takes her captive and threatens to chop off her head in the morning.  To keep him placated, she tells him stories, and those stories just so happen to be the origin stories of the characters we've come to know and love throughout the series proper: Snow White herself, Bigby, Old King Cole, the Frog Prince, and more.  It's a great way for Willingham to showcase his creativity, bending the stories we know from our childhoods to suit the characters he's created.  As a bonus, each of the stories is illustrated by someone different, and if you read comics at all, you'll recognize at least some of the names (Derek Kirk Kim, for example, is featured).  Great for fans and also a good entree to the series for those new to it.